Sixers' Tony Wroten says ankle sprain is not to blame for his recent shooting woes

(Associated Press)

Tony Wroten is out of sorts,
but he’s not blaming his sprained right ankle.

The 76ers’ sixth man had
another rough outing Friday night, in a 125-99 loss to Atlanta. Wroten went
1-for-13 from the floor, including 0-for-4 from 3-point range, with six points,
three assists and two turnovers.

“It’s not 100 percent,” Wroten
said of his bad ankle, “but that has nothing to do with the way I play.”

Wroten missed three games this
month due to a right ankle sprain he picked up Jan. 18 at Chicago. Since his
return last week, he’s played poorly in four straight games: 8-for-33 overall,
including 0-for-9 from long range, with averages of 5.8 points, 1.2 assists and
2.0 turnovers per game.

“Just part of the game. You go
through strings like this,” he said.

Coach Brett Brown, without
singling out individuals, said the Sixers need to play more completely. He said
too often the Sixers attempt to shoot their way back into close games, rather
than defend, make stops and force turnovers.

Wroten’s game has not lent
itself to much at the defensive end. Even still, Brown said he can find fault
in the second-year guard’s offensive game.

“I speak to Tony often. We challenge
him directly on the importance of being a point guard,” Brown said. “We know he
can get to the rim, but you have to grow to make other people better. When is
the crowd not your friend? You have to kick it, because he has that skill of
getting to the rim. We challenge him always. You’re more than just an attack
guy at the rim. You have to grow to be more than that.

“When he isn’t finishing, he
gets deflated. There’s a sadness, at times, that he has to get over. I have to
help him. He’s 20 years old. You’ve got to kick him in the tail and get him up.
Life’s not that bad. And get him moving, let’s go.”

Only 45 games into his pro
career, Carter-Williams has achieved plenty. He was the Eastern Conference
Player of the Week for the first week of the regular season. He was the East’s Rookie
of the Month in November. And he’s leading all rookies in scoring, rebounds and
assists.

Now comes the challenge of
juggling a weekend of rest versus invaluable experience. Carter-Williams, who
averages 35 minutes per game, would have had six days between games over
All-Star break. Instead, he will be in New Orleans for a weekend of league-wide
festivities.

“It’s a Mardi Gras. It’s a
circus. It’s no time for rest,” Brown said, “and Michael won’t experience any
rest. I wish he could. But on the flipside, I’m proud of him and I want him to
enjoy this experience.”

Evan Turner played in the
Rising Stars Challenge in 2012, though rest wasn’t a premium for him. Back
then, he was averaging 26 minutes per game.

“You’ve got to think, man. I
had nothing but rest. I was part-time,” Turner said. “I took full advantage of
playing freely (in the Rising Stars game). I needed that. I would’ve played three
more games if they would’ve let me.

“But you want to experience
that. You’re young. It gets you excited and intrigued to experience something
like that. Then you have a (Kevin Garnett) in that, and after the 13th
All-Star Game, it gets a little tiring. MCW will be fine. I’m sad Tony couldn’t
make it, but (Carter-Williams) will represent well.”

Speaking of Wroten, the Sixers’
sixth man felt let out when he learned he didn’t make the cut.

“Politics. I know I should’ve
made it. It is what it is, you know? Just adds fuel to the fire.”

“Check the stats, man. I definitely
should’ve played in it,” Wroten said. “Nothing against the people who made it.
Congrats to everybody who did make it. I definitely got snubbed, but (it’s)
just motivation.”

Sixers coach Brett Brown reflects on memories at Boston Garden

(Boston University)

While the 76ers’ game
Wednesday night against the host Boston Celtics is sure to be a treat for
Sixers rookie and Hamilton, Mass., native Michael Carter-Williams, as well as for injured rookie Nerlens Noel, of Malden, Mass., it’s fair to assume the Sixers’
first-year coach will have a few familiar faces in the arena, too.

The native of South Portland,
Maine, who routinely took trips with his parents into Boston as a youth to
watch the Celtics, Brett Brown spoke glowingly Tuesday after the Sixers’ practice
about his links to Boston: the games he’d seen there and the games he’d played
there, as an undergrad at Boston University.

Here’s what Brown had to say:

On Boston Garden’s charm:

“In the seats I had, you’d
look up five feet to the roof and see the moss and the stalagmites or stalactites.
I don’t remember which one goes up or down. You’re in an old, dingy building
that had so much character.”

On the parquet floor’s
unforgiving squares:

“I played there a few times
during my Boston University days,” he said. “You’d play in Christmas
tournaments – BC, Northeastern, UMass. You’d be flying up the court, dribbling
and you’d hit one of the dead squares and you’re upset because it’s a turnover
with nobody around and (the ball) just wouldn’t come up. It’s funny. You
started learning, as a point guard, where you could go for steals. Sometimes, with
other point guards you were guarding were going to have trouble with the floor.
You’d try to manipulate it and try to take it as an advantage.”

On the Sixers/Celtics games
from back in the day:

“I can still hear the music,
the introduction, to the NBA Game of the Week. You hear it and you think
immediately, ‘NBA.’ To travel down to the Garden, and to see back in my day it
was (George) McGinnis and Julius Erving and Bobby Jones and Andrew Toney and Mo
Cheeks and Doug (Collins) and so on. I couldn’t believe how Toney would kick
the Celtics’ tail. He was so unguardable. … It was such a big part of my
upbringing.”

Conditioning appears to be “the
main hurdle” in Arnett Moultrie’s return to the court, said 76ers coach Brett
Brown.

The second-year forward has
yet to play this season due to a pre-training camp left ankle injury that
required surgery. Moultrie’s ankle “is almost perfect,” Brown said. Getting the
6-11, 249-pounder into basketball-ready shape is the next task, though Brown
added there is no timetable for Moultrie’s eventual season debut.

“He’s doing OK. He’s
continuing to get in shape. That’s the main hurdle,” Brown said after Tuesday’s
practice. “The ankle is almost perfect. It’s not the ankle. We’re helping him
achieve some fitness goals from a conditioning standpoint to a weight
standpoint, and he’s moving along. We hope to see him a heck of a lot sooner
rather than later.”

Moultrie has only been
practicing with his teammates for the last few weeks. His first 5-on-5 practice
was Dec. 31 in Denver.

The Mississippi State product
averaged 3.7 points and 3.1 rebounds in 47 games in his rookie season.